Former President Donald Trump said Monday that he’d be “willing to go to jail if that’s what it takes for our country to win and become a democracy again,” drawing cheers from his opponents who took his comments literally.
Trump—who currently faces four separate indictments—repeated his assertion that he’s being targeted because President Joe Biden “is losing the election and is losing very, very badly.”
“This is their form of cheating this time,” Trump told the crowd at a rally in Iowa. He echoed past claims that the charges were a form of “election interference” that attempts to prevent him from running again.
“The way I look at it: we beat them twice. Now we have to beat them a third time,” Trump said. “We beat the hell out of them the second time. Think of it, think of it, think of it: we did much better the second time than we did the first.”
Trump’s allegations that widespread fraud cost him the election in 2020 are baseless, and the focus of one of the four indictments he faces is on his efforts to overturn his loss.
Trump did indeed gain more than 11 million more votes in 2020 than in 2016, but voter turnout overall increased and he did not win the popular vote either year.
At the rally, Trump also raised the gag order placed against him by Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the election interference case.
He called the move “unconstitutional” and said Chutkan’s “whole life is not liking me.”
The gag order prevents Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, and court staff involved in the election interference case.
In announcing the order, Chutkan said: “His presidential candidacy does not give him carte blanche to vilify … public servants who are simply doing their job.”
Trump went on to argue that this “weaponry” is happening due to Biden faltering in the polls, before stating his openness to jail time.
“What they don’t understand is I am willing to go to jail if that’s what it takes for our country to win and become a democracy again,” Trump said, implying he would not be silenced about the case.
Although Trump did not mean it in the way many liberals wanted it, people online still enjoyed the irony of the comments.
“He has a point: to restore American democracy to health may well require that Trump go to jail,” said one user.
“I’m willing to have Trump go to jail to have a democracy again,” said another.
Trump is the clear frontrunner in Republican primary polls. In a hypothetical match-up against Biden again, the pair are neck-and-neck. A RealClearPolitics average of recent surveys shows that Trump holds an edge over Biden by less than one point.